The New Orleans Pelicans have a lot of options if they want to make a trade.
The New Orleans Pelicans enter this offseason with a few weaknesses and a lot of ways to strengthen them.
They could just run it back, grab the best talent they can in the draft, pick up a low-cost free agent or two and see what happens.
But the bubble games revealed the Pelicans’ roster needs some balancing, as they have too many guards, not enough forwards and very little size to match up with the Godzilla lineups in the Western Conference.
This could lead them to make a trade and we’ve suggested many that could be on the table.
Most of them center around the backcourt, as teams around the league eye Jrue Holiday and Lonzo Ball, both of whom have skills that any contender needs.
But the Pelicans could go a number of different directions with a trade, including packaging some young guys and a pick, trading a veteran for a package, or the rare one-for-one trade in which they swap a guy straight up.
But who on the roster is most valuable?
For these rankings we left a few guys out. Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are clearly the Pelicans’ best trade chips, but also clearly not going to be traded.
I also left out young guys like Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Frank Jackson, as they haven’t yet proven what their trade value is and would have to be part of a package to get a return.
That leaves six guys who could be traded and bring back something the New Orleans Pelicans actually want in return.